How to watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go and other US-only services on Apple TV outside the US – the only tutorial you’ll ever need

Netflix, Hulu Plus and other streaming services have revolutionized the way we consume video content, changing it from from the model where the cable operators show their own scheduled content to a VOD model where we ordering what we like, when we like. And having access to thousands of movies and TV shows at a fixed and reasonable monthly rate is every movie buff’s dream come true. But the major drawback is, of course, the unavailability of some of the main streaming services in all countries. Those outside the United States (Canada and UK too, for some services) will be fed by a “Your country is not yet supported” screen and many would be craving for a bypass method. So if you’re residing outside the US or are a travelling US citizen, read on.

In this guide, I will show you how to stream Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go and other US-exclusive channels on your Apple TV, in countries where it is not supported officially.

(Note: HBO GO requires an HBO subscription available through participating US TV providers; by following this guide travelling US citizens can get HBO GO working abroad.)

PREREQUISITES

An Apple TV, of course: the below methods support all three generations of Apple TV

A PayPal account (recommended); or any other internationally accepted payment service; or an US-based credit card. If you don’t have any of these, you cannot proceed.

Step 1 – Setup a Virtual Credit Card

Those with US addressed credit cards can skip to Step 2.

Others need to sign up at Entropay and apply for a Virtual Credit Card. Amex, BankFreedom, ICICI and Kotak also provides similar services but Entropay is the most popular, and probably the best one.

You can transfer an amount to your VCC via PayPal and it will act as your US based credit card. Don’t worry, it is legal and safe.

Step 2 – Setup an US iTunes account

If you already have one, skip to Step 3.

This isn’t much of a trouble once you have the VCC or PayPal. Select ‘Create a new account’ on iTunes and set your country as United States. Fill up the fields with a US address (doesn’t have to be real) and use a valid US post code (find one here).

For payment details, you can enter the Entropay VCC details or use PayPal directly (latter is reported to be not working for some users). That’s all, your US account is up and running.

Step 3 – Signing in to Apple TV

On your Apple TV, make sure that you’re logged in with the above US iTunes account. In the Settings, change the region to United States, if it isn’t showing that already.

Step 4 – The tricky part

Now, we are going to make the Apple TV believe that it is indeed located in the US. And for this, I’m describing three methods, their merits and disadvantages. I will be giving you my final take on the methods but will leave the final choice to you.

I. VPN METHODS

VPN or Virtual Private Network simply put, is a service which helps us to connect via someone else’s internet connection, securely and miles away from it. It is mostly used by corporations and companies to share confidential files within one or more offices around the world.

Here, we’re going to sign up for a VPN service based in USA so that we can connect via it and force a US digital location.

Though there are many such VPN providers, we’re going to use HideMyAss, which is the most popular one. You can browse through the alternatives here.

Method A – via VPN router

This method will require you to have a VPN Router or VPN supported modem to make the magic happen. Lets see how it’s done.

1. If you already have a VPN router, you can contact the HMA team to know if it’s compatible. Else if you are willing to buy a new one, they’ll recommend one for you too. By the way, these are the routers commonly recommended by HideMyAss.

2. Once you’re sure that your VPN router will work, you can proceed to get a subscription on HideMyAss. It costs $7-$12 per month based on which bulk pricing plan you choose. Non-US card holders can use PayPal for this and even setup a recurring plan.

3. Setting up the router. This step is highly variant depending upon the client you choose and the router you own.
Basically, you’ve to enter into your Router dashboard, click on VPN Setup and fill in the fields with VPN settings and HMA credentials.

Once setup, any device connecting to your Wi-Fi network will be deemed as US device and hence can be used with any number of devices without further tweaks.

It gives the most comfortable and flexible experience, once setup.

Cons

The most expensive method.

A bit difficult to setup, especially if you’re not well versed with the basics.

It is complained to be a bit slow, but personally I din’t feel any lags.

Method B – VPN via your PC/Mac

As you might’ve noticed, buying a VPN router just for this purpose could be a burden for many. So we’re going to eliminate that and use our household computer or laptop as a VPN router. Here, we’re actually connecting our ‘computer‘ to the VPN of HideMyAss and then making it a wired hotspot (network sharing) for the Apple TV.

1. Open a HMA Pro account.
2. Use your PC/Mac to login to your account and download the corresponding client to your computer.

3. Open the client software and log in with your HMA credentials.

4. Now, choose an American location from the drop down list and start the VPN server.

5. In order to confirm that the service in working, just open your browser and goto Netflix.com. Without VPN, this will be blocked, but now it should bring up a Getting Started page. If this happens, you’re doing great.

6. All the steps till now were similar on both PC and Mac. However, in this step, you’ve to setup network sharing on your computer, which is a little different in each:

On a PC – Windows 7

- Click on WiFi/Network icon on the right side of bottom toolbar. Take “Open network and Sharing center”

7. Now, you can connect your Apple TV to your laptop (PC or Mac) via your Ethernet cable. In case you have a Macbook Air or any device without an in-built Ethernet port, you might need to purchase an Ethernet adapter.

8. Make sure in Settings > General > Network that you’re connected via Ethernet and not via any WiFi available.

9. Done! Apple servers will now fetch your location as US. You’ll be able to open and use all the apps from the Apple TV home screen.

Can be turned off easily with a click, which none of the other methods can do.

Cons

Well, … it’s a dumb method. You’ll always need to have your laptop connected to your Apple TV to stream. If so, you could very well connect a HDMI cable from your laptop directly to TV and eliminate the need of an Apple TV. Also, due the large number of cables, devices and services invloved, the clarity and load speeds will be low.

II. DNS METHOD

Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchically arranged list of IP addresses and these IP addresses in turn, determine our locations. In this method, we’ll use a DNS service to connect to a foreign DNS server and update our IP, so that our digital location also gets changed. Much easier than it sounds!

2. Once that is done, login to your account and you’ll see a screen like this.

3. As you can see, the setup is still incomplete. To complete, you’ll have to change your DNS settings and update your IP. We’re going to use our PC or Mac to do this. This is an one-time step, don’t worry.

On a PC (Windows 7)

– Click on Wifi/Network icon on the right side of bottom toolbar. Take “Open network and Sharing center”

If you have other devices, separate setup is needed for each, unlike VPN Router method which is an universal setup

Step 5 – Setting up Netflix, Hulu Plus or other services

Once the digital location and IP problem is solved (Step 4), you can use your Apple TV just like if you were in the US. The first time you launch Netflix or Hulu Plus, you’ll need to create an account and subscribe for a recurring plan via iTunes. Alternately, you can setup the Netflix account on another device using Entropay and just login here. Now, you can start streaming movies and TV shows (starting with the free first month on Netflix!). Any other US-only channels can also be setup similarly.

WRAP UP

Method A is the most elegant way, but pricey and needs a techy to be setup. It should be preferred if you already have a VPN router and you know exactly what you’re doing. It is also suitable for hotels, restaurants, tourist inns, etc., where individual setup of each device is not feasible. But VPN is notorious for being slow and if you’re one of the affected, the purchases would be a waste.

Method B is to be avoided at all costs. It is mentioned only for the sake of completion.

Method C is best of both worlds with a low tag and easy setup with good results. Personally, I have been using Unotelly for quite some time now and they work surprisingly well at a very reasonable price. Surely recommended for all home users!

Though the tutorial looks a bit lengthy, it consists of fairly simple processes and describes three separate methods. Once you know which method to follow, it takes only about half to one hour to setup. Once done, you can enjoy all US content forever without much additional maintenance processes. It is surely worth it!

From the first iPod Touch till the new iPhone 6 Plus, Roshan has loved each of his iDevices and has been busy tweaking and getting the most out of them. As a Med student from India, he splits his time between studying diseases and writing about his iOS passion. When not on the web, you could find him glued to TV Shows, movies or the bed!
You can find more of his writings on his personal blog.

Very misleading claim about getting “HBO Go”. You still need to know someone in US who is valid HBO subscriber (through cable provider only) willing to share their info with you. This article never mentions that. Also, if you set up a DNS proxy like unblock-us (which I’ve used for over two years), you only need to set up at the router level, not for each device as claimed in the “cons”. This site is usually top notch; I expected better.

http://spicyi.com Roshan Daniel

Thanks for your comment. The HBO Go part is actually mentioned for the use by travelling US citizens, as I’ve mentioned in the intro. It is true that we should’ve mentioned it more specifically, there. Sorry for that.
Secondly, we’ve used Unotelly for this tutorial. Setting up DNS on the router via Unotelly is forbidden in certain locations and also needs an above-average user to set up. That is why we’ve included the better VPN option for routers.
Hope that clears things and thanks for your support. Cheers

Mark Holoubek

Thanks for being good enough to reply. I guess my eyes skimmed over lead paragraph but then noticed the reference to PayPal/US-based credit card, and I was hoping there was a new legal loophole for HBO.
As for the DNS Proxy, I guess it depends on the different services; I’ve heard good things about Unotelly, but found Unblock-us was quite easy to set up at router level, and even non-technical friends have had little problem doing that.
Thanks again for your great work on this site and looking forward to the ATV 3 (or 4 jailbreak headline!

itn27

Your “con” for the DNS method is incorrect. I use this method with a free DNS service (SmartDNS Proxy), and I just entered the 2 DNS addresses in my router, instead of in the computer. Every device that connects via wifi via the router then automatically has access to Netflix etc. Works flawlessly (and fast streaming connection) for me…

RGM

Would this work for MLB and ESPN that blackout games in your area?

Sam Wu

Would these methods work with the Amazon TV?

canada

MAN…WAKE UP …change the DNS and that’s it

jamesdurum

VPN is not the right solution unblocking Netflix etc. A DNS service like https://unlocator.com is far supperior.

Albert

Great guide thank you! I use unblock service from http:/zoogtv.com and it works well for streaming US TV outside US including HBO Go.

Some countries put restrictions on what users can and cannot access. Using watch tv VPN service is the solution. It allows you to access any websites including Netfix, Hulu, HBO and Torrent wherever you are in the world. Most VPN services also provide encryption which will give you additional peace of mind, such as while you’re engaged to important transactions.

what24net

Try out the what24.net service if you wish to watch Hulu Plus TV shows & movies outside of the USA. Free trial at:

Great article Roshan. The DNS option is better than using a VPN regarding content streaming because you can achieve direct connection with the media station ex. Netflix and avoid the “middle-man”. Personally, I am using UnoTelly which is similar to Unblock-us (or other DNS service). Perhaps you should check UnoTelly as well if you haven’t done so.

Unhappy User

“Entropay is the most popular, and probably the best one.”
Apple does not accept EntroPay because their cards are issued in MALTA..
So it’s the worst one and no one should waste money on it..

Kendra

Great article Roshan. The DNS option is better than using a VPN regarding content streaming because you can achieve direct connection with the media station ex. Netflix and avoid the “middle-man”. Personally, I am using UnoTelly which is similar to Unblock-us (or other DNS service). Perhaps you should check UnoTelly as well if you haven’t done so.

Carolyn V. Hamilton

So if I understand all this correctly, if you live outside the US, even though you have a VPN, apple TV, US IP address and Netflix all set up, you still cannot subscribe to HBO GO because you do not have a US cable television provider.

Jannes

That is correct. To subscribe to HBO GO you need to have a US cable television subscription which should include HBO of course (HBO is a premium package).

However, we expect that this issue will disappear this year as HBO has indicated that it will release its own paid streaming service which will not require a cable TV subscription.

Kendra

That’s a good article Roshan. I personally prefer UnoTelly. It’s similar to unblock-us (or other DNS service) but they offer a DNS server close to physical location and I can achieve better performance.

Kendra

Great article Roshan. For those who live outside US like me, you can access Netflix, Hulu and similar media stations on your Apple TV by using UnoTelly or similar tools.

BilalAsif1900

After reading your article i want to share my personal methods of accessing Hulu outside USA because i love to watch Hulu rather than other channels.
I always get my providers from VpnRanks for watching Hulu outside USA.

Helmi Nurfuadi

For VPN provider I use Hotspot Shield. It’s the cheapest method I could find so far. I live in Indonesia and they cost 365100 IDR (about $28) per year, or $2.33/month. In which the monthly subscription goes on the regular range for $4.99. You can also buy 2 weeks of subscription with your phone credit which cost 16500 IDR ($2.54/month). It works with maximum 5 devices (including mobile) and is easy to set up for not-so tech savvy users.

Sometimes I’m annoyed with the error message showing up saying I should subscribe to its Elite membership, which I already do. I switch the on/off toggle in the app to solve this. Reduced speed is also noticable in other regular unrestricted web pages, compared to when I turn off the service. I’ve been using it for 3 weeks now and have experienced those issues I’ve mentioned. But other than that it works pretty well on my PC and iPad. If there’s other users of the service who read this, I’d like to know if you might experience some other issues or factual cons.

rr

Wow it’s hard to believe that I still can’t get access to HBO now in Canada. Not even on apple TV. I (one of many recently) cut the cord with my cable company because of their ridiculous price for packages that are mostly garbage. Bell owns the rights to HBO content here which is why Canadians are being blocked. I would gladly pay $15 a month for on demand access to one quality channel like HBO and even a few others that I actually want , instead of shovelling out around $100 bucks a month for a package. This is why so many people find ways that don’t cost a dime. I would rather miss out than get screwed. Canadians have been dropping their cable subscriptions en masse lately. I can’t see how keeping us cut off is making anyone any money. Huge market to be tapped.